| Fury | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | David Ayer |
| Written by | David Ayer |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Roman Vasyanov |
| Edited by | |
| Music by | Steven Price |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Releasing |
Release dates |
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Running time | 135 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States[2] |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $68–80 million[3][4][5] |
| Box office | $211.8 million[3] |
Fury is a 2014 Americanwar film written, directed, and co-produced byDavid Ayer. It starsBrad Pitt withShia LaBeouf,Logan Lerman,Michael Peña, andJon Bernthal as members of an American tank crew fighting inNazi Germany during the final weeks of theEuropean theater of World War II. Ayer was influenced by the service of military veterans in his family and by reading books such as Belton Y. Cooper'sDeath Traps, a 1998 memoir that underscores the high casualty rates suffered by American tank crews in combat against their better-equipped German counterparts.
Production began inEngland in early September 2013. Initial filming inHertfordshire led to the start ofprincipal photography inOxfordshire on September 30, 2013. Filming continued in the city ofOxford and elsewhere and concluded on November 13, 2013.Fury was released on October 17, 2014, receiving generally positive reviews and grossing over $211 million worldwide.
In April 1945, during theWestern Allied invasion of Germany, Don "Wardaddy" Collier, a battle-hardenedUS ArmyFirst Sergeant in theU.S. Second Armored Division, commands anM4A3E8 Sherman nicknamedFury, whose crew—consisting of gunner Boyd "Bible" Swan, loader Grady "Coon-Ass" Travis, driver Trini "Gordo" Garcia, and assistant driver–bow gunner "Red"—have been together since theNorth African campaign. After Red is killed in action, he is replaced byPrivate First Class Norman Ellison, formerly a typist clerk.
The crew disdains Norman for his lack of combat experience and aversion to violence. As their tank column advances, Norman spots but does not fire on concealedHitler Youth, who ambush the lead tank with aPanzerfaust, killing the platoon leader and his crew. Don furiously blames Norman for their loss and assumes command of the column.
Norman hesitates again during an assault on a tree line against infantry andanti-tank guns. After the battle, Don orders Norman toexecute a captured German soldier. When he refuses, Don wrestles his revolver into Norman's hand and forces him to pull the trigger, killing the soldier and traumatizing Norman.
After capturingKirchohsen, Don and Norman find two German women, Irma and Emma, hiding in an apartment. Don has the women prepare a meal and supply hot water for a shave. Seeing Norman speaking with the teenage Emma, Don orders Norman to take Emma into the bedroom, or he, Don, will. Norman does so and has sex with her. Later, during dinner,Fury's crew drunkenly enters, harassing the women and bullying Norman, leading to a standoff with Don before the unit is ordered to move out. While Captain Waggoner briefs Don on their next mission, German artillery strikes the town, killing Emma. Norman suffers a breakdown.
Don's tank platoon is ordered to seize and hold a vital crossroads to protect the division's vulnerable rear. A lone GermanTiger I ambushes and destroys the other three tanks before being defeated byFury, which loses its radio in the battle. Unable to call for reinforcements, Don decides to continue the mission alone.Fury is immobilized by alandmine at the crossroads. Norman is sent to scout and spots aWaffen-SS battalion approaching. The crew opts to leave until Don insists on staying with the immobilized tank. Norman elects to stay and convinces the others to do the same.
The men disguiseFury to appear knocked out and assume their positions to make alast stand. Exchanging Bible verses, Norman earns the nickname "Machine" as a show of the crew's newfound support.Fury ambushes theWaffen-SS battalion, inflicting heavy casualties. During the ensuing skirmish, Grady is killed by a Panzerfaust shot that penetrates the turret. Gordo is shot, dropping a live grenade inside the tank, so he sacrifices himself by shielding it with his body. Bible is killed after being shot in the head by a sniper, who then wounds Don. Out of ammunition and surrounded, Norman contemplates surrendering, but Don directs him to escape through the floor hatch as the Germans drop grenades into the tank. Norman hides underneath the tank as the grenades kill Don, and is then spared by a youngWaffen-SS soldier who spots him under the tank but chooses not to alert his comrades.
Norman crawls back into the tank the next morning and covers Don's corpse with his jacket before being discovered by infantry reinforcements. He is then helped to an ambulance by medics and praised as a hero for his actions, and watches an American column advance pastFury's wreck, surrounded by dozens of deadWaffen-SS soldiers.
On April 3, 2013, Sony started assembling the cast for the film when Brad Pitt, who previously starred in the WWII filmInglourious Basterds (2009), entered final talks to take the lead role of Wardaddy.[6] On April 23,Shia LaBeouf joined the cast.[7] On May 1, it was announced thatLogan Lerman had also joinedFury's cast, playing Pitt's crew member Norman Ellison.[8] On May 14,The Hollywood Reporter announced thatMichael Peña was in negotiations to play a member of Pitt's tank crew; ultimately joining the cast. On May 17,Jon Bernthal joined the cast as Grady Travis, a cunning, vicious, and world-wise Arkansas native.[9] On August 26,Scott Eastwood also joined the cast, playing Sergeant Miles.[10] On September 19,Brad William Henke joined as Sergeant Roy Davis, commander of another tank,Lucy Sue (the third Sherman destroyed by the Tiger).[11]Jason Isaacs was cast on October 7, 2013.[12] Other cast members includeXavier Samuel,Jim Parrack,Eugenia Kuzmina, Kevin Vance, andBranko Tomović.[13]
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Ayer required the actors to undergo four months of preparation for filming, including a week-longboot camp run byNavy SEALs. Pitt said, "It was set up to break us down, to keep us cold, to keep us exhausted, to make us miserable, to keep us wet, make us eat cold food. And if our stuff wasn't together we had to pay for it with physical forfeits. We're up at five in the morning, we're doing night watches on the hour."
Ayer also pushed the cast to physically spar each other, leading to black eyes and bloody noses. They insulted each other with personal attacks as well. On top of that, the actors were forced to live in the tank together for an extended period of time where they ate, slept, and defecated.
Ayer said, "I am ruthless as a director. I will do whatever I think is necessary to get what I want."[15]
The film's crews were rehearsing the film scenes inHertfordshire in September 2013. The crew were also sighted filming in various locations inNorth West England. Pitt was spotted in preparations forFury driving a tank on September 3 in the English countryside.[16]Principal photography began on September 30, 2013, in theOxfordshire countryside.[17][18]Pinewood Studios sent warning letters to the villagers ofShirburn,Pyrton, andWatlington that there would be sounds of gunfire and explosions during the filming ofFury.[19][20]
On October 15, 2013, a stuntman was accidentally stabbed in the shoulder with abayonet while rehearsing at the set in Pyrton. He was taken to theJohn Radcliffe Hospital inOxford byair ambulance; police treated it as an accident.[21] In November 2013, the film caused controversy by shooting a scene onRemembrance Day in which extras woreWehrmacht andWaffen-SS uniforms; Ayer and Sony apologized.[22]
On November 19, 2013, composerSteven Price signed on to score the film.[23][24]Varèse Sarabande released the original soundtrack album for the film on October 14, 2014.[25]
Ayer sought authentic uniforms and weapons appropriate to the period of the final months of the war in Europe.[26] The film was shot in the United Kingdom, partly due to the availability of working World War II-era tanks. The film featuresTiger 131, the last surviving operationalTiger I, owned byThe Tank Museum atBovington, England.[27] Ten workingM4 Sherman tanks were also used. The Sherman tankFury was portrayed using an M4A2E8 HVSS Sherman tank namedRON/HARRY (T224875), also lent by The Tank Museum.[28]
Ayer's attention to detail extended to the maps used in the film. A 1943 wartime map ofHannover, Germany, held in McMaster University'sLloyd Reeds Map Collection, was used to demonstrate the types of resources relied on by Allied forces.[29] The film's depiction of tank warfare and soldier comradery was generally well received by World War II veterans.[30][31]
Sony Pictures Releasing had previously set November 14, 2014, as the American release date forFury.[32] On August 12, 2014, the date was moved up from its original release date of November 14, 2014, to October 17, 2014.[33] The film premiered in London, UK on October 20, 2014, as a closing film ofLondon Film Festival[34] and was theatrically released in the United Kingdom on October 22, 2014.
Fury had its world premiere atNewseum inWashington, D.C., on October 15, 2014,[35] followed by a wide release across 3,173 theaters in North America on October 17.[36]
The film was released onDVD andBlu-ray in the United States on January 27, 2015. It was released onUltra HD Blu-ray on May 22, 2018.[37]
The film additionally had a partnership with the video gameWorld of Tanks, where the main tank from the film,Fury, was available for purchase in-game using real currency for a limited time after the film's release. The tank also served as the centerpiece in themed events in the vein of the film following its release. The Blitz version has been widely criticized due to the lack of attention to detail on the in game Fury Model.[38][39][40]
As part of the UK DVD release, the game also hid 300,000 codes inside copies of the film, which gave in-game rewards and bonuses.[41]
The film wasleaked onto peer-to-peer file-sharing websites as part of theSony Pictures hack by the hacker group "Guardians of Peace" on November 27, 2014.[42] Along with it came four unreleasedSony Pictures films (Annie,Mr. Turner,Still Alice, andTo Write Love on Her Arms).[42] Within three days of the initial leak,Fury had been downloaded an estimated 1.2 million times.[42]
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Fury grossed $85.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $126 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $211.8 million, against a budget of $68 million.[3]
Fury was released in the United States and Canada in 3,173 theaters,[43] and earned $1.2 million from Thursday night previews at 2,489 theaters.[44][45] On its opening day, the film grossed $8.8 million.[46][47][48] It went on to top the box office with $23.5 million, an average of $7,406 per theater.[49][50] The film's opening weekend gross was David Ayer's biggest hit of his directorial career, surpassing the $13.1 million debut ofEnd of Watch.[51] In its second weekend the film earned $13 million (dropping 45%).[52]
Fury was released a week following its North American debut and earned $11.2 million from 1,975 screens in 15 markets. The film went number one inAustralia ($2.2 million) and number five inFrance ($2.1 million).[53][54] InUK, the film topped the box office in its opening weekend with £2.69 million ($4.2 million) knocking offTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which earned £1.92 million ($3.1 million) from the top spot.[55][56] In its second weekend the film added $14.6 million in 44 markets, bringing the overseas cumulative audience [cume] to $37.8 million. It went number one inFinland ($410,000) and inUkraine ($420,000).[57]
OnRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 76% based on 262 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Overall,Fury is a well-acted, suitably raw depiction of the horrors of war that offers visceral battle scenes but doesn't quite live up to its larger ambitions."[58] OnMetacritic, the film has a score of 64 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[59] Audiences surveyed byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. The opening weekend audience was 60% male, with 51 percent over the age of 35.[60]
Mick LaSalle of theSan Francisco Chronicle gave a 4-out-of-4 rating and wrote: "A great movie lets you know you're in safe hands from the beginning."[61]The New York Times' criticA. O. Scott praised the film and Pitt's character, "Within this gore-spattered, superficiallynihilisticcarapace is an old-fashioned platoon picture, a sensitive and superbly acted tale of male bonding under duress."[62]James Berardinelli also gave the film a positive review saying: "This is a memorable motion picture, accurately depicting the horrors of war without reveling in the depravity of man (likePlatoon). Equally, it shows instances of humanity without resorting to the rah-rah, sanitized perspective that infiltrated many war films of the 1950s and 1960s. It's as good a World War II film as I've seen in recent years, and contains perhaps the most draining battlefield sequences sinceSaving Private Ryan."[63]Kenneth Turan for theLos Angeles Times praised the film highly, writing: The "best job I ever had" sentence "is one of the catchphrases the men in this killing machine use with each other, and the ghastly thing is they half believe it's true."[64]
Peter Debruge said inVariety, "Brad Pitt plays a watered-down version of hisInglourious Basterds character in this disappointingly bland look at a World War II tank crew."[65]New York magazine'sDavid Edelstein said, "Though much ofFury crumbles in the mind, the power of its best moments lingers: the writhing of Ellison as he's forced to kill; the frightening vibe of the scene with German women; the meanness on some soldiers' faces and soul-sickness on others'."[66]
| List of awards and nominations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Award / Film Festival | Category | Recipients | Result |
| Critics' Choice Awards | Best Action Movie | Nominated | |
| Best Actor in an Action Movie | Brad Pitt | Nominated | |
| Hollywood Film Awards | Hollywood Editing Award | Jay Cassidy and Dody Dorn | Won |
| Hollywood Music in Media Awards | Original Score Feature Film | Steven Price | Nominated |
| Motion Picture Sound Editors | Feature English Language – Effects / Foley | Nominated | |
| National Board of Review | Top Ten Films | Won | |
| Best Cast | Won | ||
| People's Choice Awards | Favorite Movie Actor | Brad Pitt | Nominated |
| Favorite Movie Dramatic Actor | Nominated | ||
| Phoenix Film Critics Society | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Logan Lerman | Nominated |
| Screen Actors Guild | Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture | Nominated | |
| Satellite Awards | Best Art Direction & Production Design | Andrew Mendez, Peter Russell | Nominated |
| Best Editing | Dody Dorn, Jay Cassidy | Nominated | |
| Best Original Score | Steven Price | Nominated | |
| Santa Barbara International Film Festival | Virtuosos Award | Logan Lerman | Won |
| Teen Choice Awards | Choice Movie: Drama | Nominated | |
| Choice Movie Actor: Drama | Logan Lerman | Nominated | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
